TOM ANDERSEN and AXEL GAARSLEV
Based on the expectation of artificial intelligence (Al) the authors established in 1988 an umbrella for research in this area in the construction industry, named the Expert…
Abstract
Based on the expectation of artificial intelligence (Al) the authors established in 1988 an umbrella for research in this area in the construction industry, named the Expert Systems Lab. This paper describes 14 research projects produced since then. For each project a short description is given and the stage and value rating given by industry is reported. It will be seen that the projects generally have been rated very attractive by industry. On the other hand, it is also reported that none of the systems have been implemented in real life. This depressing observation is the main motivation for the paper and possible reasons for the lack of implementation are examined. It is concluded that stand‐alone systems as normally produced are out of harmony with industry, and main emphasis for Al should on the contrary be focused on problems concerning integration, knowledge and information management.
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Thomas Ølholm Larsen, Tom Løgstrup Andersen, Bent Thorning and Martin E. Vigild
The purpose of this paper is to describe the construction of a custom‐built pin‐on‐disk (POD) apparatus based on a simple design and on important guidelines.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the construction of a custom‐built pin‐on‐disk (POD) apparatus based on a simple design and on important guidelines.
Design/methodology/approach
The POD apparatus is built as a part of the main author's PhD project. The apparatus is built at a low cost and is suited for testing polymeric materials under dry‐sliding conditions. The different main parts of the apparatus are described in a way which partly explains the choice of construction and partly makes it possible to produce a similar apparatus. Furthermore, a limited amount of tribological data is presented mainly to exemplify the usefulness of the machine.
Findings
The POD apparatus is successfully applied to measure coefficients of friction, wear rates and disk temperatures at an acceptable level of precision and accuracy. Tribological data obtained with this equipment show the effect of reinforcing an epoxy resin with a plain glass fiber weave.
Research limitations/implications
The data presented in this paper are limited since the main objective is to describe the construction of a POD apparatus.
Practical implications
The paper is intended to be a source of inspiration for industrial or academic laboratories who want to establish their own tailor‐suited tribological test‐equipment, instead of investing in a probably more expensive commercial machine.
Originality/value
The POD apparatus is custom‐built and described in an easily understandable way, which makes this a helpful paper for those who wish to produce a similar apparatus.
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In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different ways of talking, the purpose of this paper is to explore how a greater awareness of listening…
Abstract
Purpose
In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different ways of talking, the purpose of this paper is to explore how a greater awareness of listening can be a resource during fieldwork.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a collaborative study of a family business as a starting point and focusses on a meeting held in the owner family where emotional issues concerning conflicts were discussed. Detailed illustrations from this two-hour meeting show how listening guided all participants, including the author in her role as a researcher.
Findings
Based on Bakhtin's work on dialogue as well as literature on listening the notion of “dialogic listening” is developed. This notion emphasizes four dimensions of listening: relationality and conversations as a shared activity, listening as an active process, the polyphonic nature of listening, and listening as an embodied activity. The paper illustrates how dialogic listening can create a feeling of an “us” where we can “listen into” things. “Listening into” involves a prospective way of exploring which can offer a feeling for that which we bodily “know” but do yet not understand cognitively.
Originality/value
The focus on listening makes it possible to explore new research practices in that it suggests an orientation toward language that does not depart from talk but rather emphasizes how the embodied and intertwined nature of relating to one another can guide and direct us during field studies.
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This essay demonstrates how information systems — collections of documents, data, or other information-bearing objects — function internally as sites for creative manipulation of…
Abstract
Purpose
This essay demonstrates how information systems — collections of documents, data, or other information-bearing objects — function internally as sites for creative manipulation of genre resources. In the information systems context, these textual activities are not clearly traced to the purposeful actions of specific writers.
Findings
Genre development for information systems can result from actions that may appear individually to be rote, repetitive, passive, and uninteresting. But as these actions are aggregated at increasing scales, genre components interact and shift, even if change is limited to one element of the larger assemblage. Although these changes may not be initiated by writers in accordance with targeted work activities and associated rhetorical goals, the composite texts thus produced are nonetheless powerful documents that come to partially constitute the broader activities they appear to merely support.
Originality/value
In demonstrating “writerless” phenomena of genre change in distributed, regulated systems, this essay complements and extends the strong body of existing work in genre studies that emphasizes the writer’s perspective and agency in its accounts of genre development. By showing how continually evolving compound documents such as digital libraries constitute such sites of unacknowledged genre change, this essay demonstrates how the social actions that these composite documents facilitate for their users also change.
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By Annette Alexander, Christopher Andersen, Andrew Boyce, Tom Carey, David Crosland, Tony Lane and Ben Morgan
To explain the benefits and the regulations pertaining to Guernsey as a domicile for investment funds.
Abstract
Purpose
To explain the benefits and the regulations pertaining to Guernsey as a domicile for investment funds.
Design/Methodology/Approach
Explains the benefits of Guernsey as a fund domicile, the regulatory regime, and the types of fund vehicles used in Guernsey, registered and authorized.
Findings
Guernsey is one of the world’s largest offshore finance centers, with a thriving funds industry. The benefits of Guernsey as a fund domicile are substantial, including a proportionate, flexible and competitive funds regulatory regime, a stable political and legal structure, and a wealth of first-class fund service providers.
Originality/Value
Expert guidance from experienced investment-fund lawyers.
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Humanity is facing some serious and troubling questions that need to be addressed and reflected on by concerned politicians, thinkers, and general public alike most urgently if we…
Abstract
Humanity is facing some serious and troubling questions that need to be addressed and reflected on by concerned politicians, thinkers, and general public alike most urgently if we are to survive as a species. Terrorism is on the rise in an unprecedented fashion. Unimaginable crimes have been committed by church leaders. Some Muslim clerics have contributed to unprecedented fanaticism of the masses of their followers. Huge corporations such as Enron have overstated their income by millions and even billions of dollars in order to obtain easy bonuses for a few executives at the expense of their employees, their stockholders, and the general public. Politicians have abused the trust of the voters by accepting huge contributions from corrupt corporations. Humanity is in urgent need of finding solutions to some chronic and unsettling problems more than ever before.
IN the less‐than‐a‐century in which children's literature has developed, many types of books have emerged, and perhaps one class—the moral story—has disappeared (or if not…
Abstract
IN the less‐than‐a‐century in which children's literature has developed, many types of books have emerged, and perhaps one class—the moral story—has disappeared (or if not entirely so, at least it is cold‐shouldered by modern young people). But the new literature has not displaced the fairy tale, one of the oldest forms, and still a favourite of children with imagination. A volume which should be added to the home bookshelf alongside Andersen, Grimm and Perrault, is Christina Hole's recently reprinted collection of tales from many lands entitled Folk Tales of Many Nations (H. Joseph, 10/6). They are related in a pleasant, straightforward style which presents no difficulties, and they are just long enough to hold the attention of young readers. In Norwegian Fairy Tales (Muller, 5/−) G. Strindberg has chosen old traditional folk legends about trolls, hulders, and other fairy people, and she has illustrated them herself. The Golden Treasury of Fairy Tales (Gulliver, 6/−) contains abridged and retold versions of childhood favourites by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Andersen, Frances Browne, and others. On the production side, the printing is rather lifeless and badly spaced. An interesting collection of tales handed down from father to son in the remote parts of the Irish countryside has been made by Gerard Murphy in Tales from Ireland (Browne and Nolan, 7/6). The volume is attractively produced and illustrated and will appeal to rather older boys and girls. Tom Scarlett's The Gnome and the Fairy and other Stories (Muller, 6/−) is in the modern vein and recounts the adventures of everyday people with fairies, wizards, birds and animals. Hettie Roe's simple line drawings are almost too tempting for children with a box of crayons.
The management of children′s literature is a search for value andsuitability. Effective policies in library and educational work arebased firmly on knowledge of materials, and on…
Abstract
The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.
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Wan-Hsiu Cheng, Shih-Chieh Chiu, Chia-Yueh Yen and Fu-Chang Yeh
This study aims to explore the relationship between house prices and time-on-market (TOM) in Silicon Valley. Previous findings have been inconclusive due to variations in property…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the relationship between house prices and time-on-market (TOM) in Silicon Valley. Previous findings have been inconclusive due to variations in property characteristics. This paper highlights the discrepancy between listing and selling prices and identifies differences among housing types such as condominiums, detached houses and townhouses based on housing orientations and customer groups. Additionally, this study considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Fed’s interest rate policies on the housing market.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze 63,853 transactions from the Bay East Board of Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service during 2018 to 2022. The study uses a multiple-stage methodology, including a nonlinear hedonic pricing model, search theory and two-stage least squares method to address concerns relating to endogeneity.
Findings
The Silicon Valley housing market shows resilience, with low-end properties giving buyers more bargaining power without significant price drops. High-end properties, on the other hand, attract more attention over time, leading to aggressive bidding and higher final sale prices. The pandemic, despite reducing housing supply, did not dampen demand, leading to price surges. Post-COVID, price correlations with TOM changed, indicating a more cautious buyer approach toward high premiums. The Fed’s stringent monetary policies post-2022 intensified these effects, with longer listing times leading to greater price disparities due to financial pressures on buyers and shifting dynamics in buyer interest.
Practical implications
Results reveal a nonlinear positive correlation between TOM and the price formation process, indicating that the longer a listed property is on the market, the greater the price changes. For low-end properties, TOM becomes significantly negative, while for high-end properties, the coefficient becomes significantly positive, with effects and magnitudes varying by type of dwelling. Moreover, external environmental factors, especially those leading to financial strain, can significantly impact the housing market.
Originality/value
The experience of Silicon Valley is valuable for cities using it as a development model. The demand for talent in the tech industry will stimulate the housing market, especially as the housing supply will not improve in the short term. It is important for government entities to plan for this proactively.